1. Looks like Whitsun week could be a washout at home, so if you're after guaranteed sun, one of the closest places to get some is the Red Sea, which is also astonishingly good value right now. Longwood Holidays (020 8418 2525; www.longwoodholidays.co.uk) has seven nights half-board at the five-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Taba Heights on the Gulf of Aqaba for £1,736 with flights and transfers. The price includes an upgrade to a sea-view room, 15 per cent off drinks and one meal in its El Fresco restaurant. Taba is great for snorkelling and diving, and there are heaps of historical attractions nearby - plus it's close to Jordan for day trips to Petra.

STAY IN A TRADITIONAL COUNTRY COTTAGE

2. Securing a decent country cottage for a half-term holiday is like getting your child into Eton - you have to put your name down impossibly early - so it's surprisingly fabulous that Classic Cottages (www.classic.co.uk; 01326 555 555) still has some available, including a 17th-century thatched cottage, Hollands Orchard, in the Somerset village of Over Stratton. It has an enclosed garden (great for little ones, though there is a hidden pond), a pub and a good restaurant a stone's throw away, and it's within easy driving distance of south Dorset's beaches and the Jurassic Coast. Sleeping six, it costs £825 for a week from Saturday.

INVITATION TO TUSCANY

3. Choose from an apartment in a Tuscan farmhouse or a villa on a farming estate, both near Siena, both with pools and both still available through Invitation to Tuscany (0845 838 7421; www.invitationtotuscany.com) at reasonable discounts. The apartment, Pinolo, which sleeps up to five, costs £482 for the week, down from £603. The villa, La Loggiata, sleeps six and costs £610, down from £763. Flights are not included, but budget airlines fly from the UK to the nearest airport, Pisa.

BREAK THE ICE

4. Do something different this half-term and see the bubbling mud flats, volcanic craters and newborn lava fields of northern Iceland. Save 25 per cent with Discover the World (0870 060 3288; www.discover-the-world.co.uk) which is offering three nights at Lava Cottage, close to the picturesque Lake Myvatn - one of the biggest lakes in Iceland - plus one night B&B in a hotel in Reykjavik, for £1,714, a saving of £571. The price includes flights and car hire. As the cottage sleeps 12, you could get the price per person down by sharing with other families or friends.

HAVE A CAPITAL BREAK

5. Take the kids to London and stay a night in a family suite at the Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel (020 7823 1234; www.jumeirahlowndeshotel.com), which will babysit the children for three hours while you go out, have dinner or relax in the health club and spa. It also provides board games, soft toys and video games to keep the children entertained. The 'Family Retreat' package costs from £389 per suite per night, based on two adults and two children sharing, which is a saving of £258 on the normal room rate. It includes full English breakfast, chocolate-dipped cookies in the room, children's robes and bubble bath, and a newspaper. VAT and service are extra.

SEE MICKEY IN ORLANDO

6. It's not too late to book a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. Funway Holidays (0870 990 3333; www.funwayholidays.co.uk) has discounted packages to the three-star Best Western Lakeside hotel, just two miles from Disney World and close to many more of Orlando's top attractions, from £2,389, a saving of £489. The price includes flights departing on Saturday, taxes, fuel surcharge, transfers and seven nights' room-only accommodation with a free daily shuttle bus between the hotel and the Disney resort, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and Lake Buena Vista Outlet Mall.

A WEEK CAMPING IN FRANCE

7. Bag the family a half-price camping break in France from Venue Holidays (01233 629950; www.venueholidays.co.uk), which has seven nights in the Vendee from just £140 including a midweek Dover-to-Calais ferry crossing. The price, which is slightly higher for weekend departures, includes accommodation in a fully equipped tent at Camping La Plage at St Hilaire for two adults and up to four children. The campsite, which is close to the popular resort of St Jean de Monts, has a pool complex with slides and chutes, and is across the road from a fine sandy beach.

SAIL AWAY IN THE CARIBBEAN

8. Get active with the family on a Sunsail (0870 112 8487; www.sunsail.co.uk) holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where temperatures are in the mid-80s. You can learn to sail, go canoeing and windsurfing, play tennis or simply relax in the on-site spa at Sunsail's Club Corona. The operator has seven nights, departing on Friday, for £3,196, a saving of £260. The price includes half-board accommodation for adults and full board for children, flights, entrance to kids' clubs and use of all watersports equipment. Club Corona has two small private beaches, an internet cafe, bar, coffee shop and open-air beach restaurant.

HANG OUT WITH CELEBS IN ST TROPEZ

9. Persuade friends or relatives to join you on a family holiday this half-term and you can hire a monster of a villa near the fashionable French resort of St Tropez at a 50 per cent discount. Mas de L'Oumede, set in the hills a five-minute drive from Pampelonne Beach, sleeps 13 and costs £2,415 for the week through The Villa Book (0845 500 2000; www.thevillabook.com). Flights are not included. The villa is surrounded by a large garden and has a swimming pool, tennis court, boules court, children's play area and Jacuzzi.

RELAX IN A LUXURY HOTEL

10. Posh hotels don't normally welcome families but the oh-so-very child-friendly luxury Ickworth Hotel and Apartments (01284 735350; www.ickworthhotel.co.uk) not only promises your children a great time but is also offering weary parents in need of some R&R a 20 per cent discount from 28 May to 1 June. Situated in 1,800 acres of Suffolk parkland, Ickworth is offering a special price of £260 for dinner, bed and breakfast. Children stay free and you can pop them in the supervised Four Bears Den or the club for older children while you indulge yourself in the Aquae Sulis Retreat.

HOP ON THE TRAIN TO PARIS

11. Take the kids on a boat ride along the Seine on a mini-break to Paris, which costs just £368 including travel by Eurostar and two-nights' B&B at the three-star Grande Hotel de Paris booked through ShortBreaks (0870 027 6027; www.short-breaks.com). The operator is also throwing in a boat trip with Bateaux Parisiens or tickets for the Musee D'Orsay art gallery for the whole family. There's lots more for kids to do in the city, from riding on 'La Grande Roue' ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde to the children's playground in the Tuileries Gardens.

HIT THE BEACH IN CYPRUS

12. Cyprus is warming up nicely at this time of year and Libra Holidays (0871 226 7825; www.libraholidays.co.uk) has a couple of special deals in the popular resort of Limassol which are good for families: two adults and one child can stay for seven nights half-board at the three-star Pavemar Hotel for £1,207, a saving of £160, or seven nights' B&B at the swish five-star Le Meridien Spa & Resort for £1,976, a saving of £144. Both include flights and transfers. But, as with many of the cheapest deals available for half-term, flights don't depart until midweek, which means that school-age children may be late back to lessons.